Imagine arriving at a hotel after a long drive.

You've chosen somewhere with EV charging, knowing you can plug in overnight and leave the following morning with enough charge for the next leg of your journey.

But when you arrive, the charger isn't working.

You try again. You check the instructions. Perhaps you download an app or try another payment method. Nothing happens.

Eventually, you head to reception for help.

The receptionist is friendly but doesn't know what's wrong. There's no clear support number, and nobody can tell you when the charger will be working again.

Suddenly, what should have been a straightforward part of your stay has become a problem you need to solve.

For hotels, hospitality businesses and leisure venues, a broken EV charger isn't always just a technical issue. It can quickly become a customer experience issue.

And the impact on guest trust can be greater than you might expect.

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The Charger Might Be Outside, but It's Still Part of Your Business

When someone visits your hotel, restaurant, golf club or leisure destination, they experience your business as a whole.

They don't necessarily distinguish between the services you manage directly and those delivered by external providers.

If the Wi-Fi doesn't work, they associate it with your venue.

If the heating fails, they associate it with your venue.

And if an EV charger you've advertised as an available facility isn't working, they're likely to associate that experience with your business too.

That's an important distinction.

You might not manufacture the charger, operate the charging software or manage the network behind it.

But from the guest's perspective, it's a facility you've provided.

Your charging partner may be responsible for the infrastructure, but your venue can still carry the reputational impact when something goes wrong.

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A Broken EV Charger Can Disrupt More Than the Charging Session

Not every failed charging session will have serious consequences.

Sometimes a driver can move to another charger or find an alternative nearby.

But for other guests, the situation can be much more disruptive.

Consider a family staying overnight before continuing a road trip. Or a business traveller who has an early meeting the following morning.

They may have planned their journey around being able to charge while staying at your venue.

If that charging opportunity disappears, they could face an unexpected journey to another charging station, additional waiting time or uncertainty about their plans.

For a guest who deliberately chose your hotel because it offered EV charging, that disappointment can be particularly significant.

The problem isn't necessarily the cost of the electricity they couldn't access.

It's the inconvenience, uncertainty and disruption.

And those feelings can influence how they remember their stay.

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Trust Is Built on Expectations Being Met

Hospitality businesses work hard to create confidence before guests arrive.

Your website, booking information, photographs, reviews and facilities all help people decide whether your venue is right for them.

When you advertise EV charging, you're setting an expectation.

You're telling guests that charging is something they can reasonably plan around, subject to any clearly communicated availability restrictions.

If they arrive and discover the facility isn't working, there's a gap between what they expected and what they experienced.

That's where trust can begin to weaken.

It's similar to advertising a swimming pool that's unexpectedly unavailable or parking that turns out to be inaccessible.

The difference with EV charging is that some guests may be relying on it to continue their journey.

The more important a facility is to someone's plans, the more frustrating it becomes when it isn't available.

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The Way You Respond Can Matter as Much as the Fault

Here's something worth considering.

A technical problem doesn't automatically mean a guest will have a negative impression of your business.

Technology can fail. Most people understand that.

What often makes a difficult situation worse is not knowing what happens next.

Who should the guest contact?

Does anyone know there's a problem?

Is somebody investigating?

Will the charger be available again soon?

Is there an alternative?

A guest who receives clear information and helpful support may view the experience very differently from someone who is left to figure everything out themselves.

That's why EV charging support should be considered part of the customer experience, not simply an operational extra.

At Connekt, drivers have access to a dedicated support team 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Whether someone needs help starting a charging session, understanding a payment issue or disconnecting their vehicle, they have a clear route to assistance.

It means your reception or front-of-house team doesn't have to become the first line of technical support.

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Not Every Charging Problem Means the Charger Is Broken

One of the challenges with EV charging is that several different issues can look exactly the same to a driver.

They arrive, try to charge and nothing happens.

But the underlying cause could involve:

• Network connectivity or communication issues
• A payment or authentication problem
• The vehicle or charging cable
• A software issue
• An electrical supply or power management problem
• A fault within the charger itself

From the driver's perspective, the distinction isn't particularly important.

They simply want to charge their vehicle.

This is where having a charging partner that understands the entire system becomes valuable.

Rather than treating every unsuccessful session as a hardware failure, a managed charging provider can investigate the wider charging process and determine what needs attention.

That can make resolving issues more straightforward and help avoid unnecessary confusion for guests and venue staff.

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Why Monitoring Matters Before a Guest Even Notices a Problem

There's an important difference between waiting for somebody to report a fault and actively managing a charging network.

Reactive support begins when something goes wrong and somebody asks for help.

Proactive network management also looks for potential issues behind the scenes.

At Connekt, our Network team monitors charging infrastructure around the clock, using alerts and performance information to identify issues that may need investigation.

We can monitor factors including successful charging sessions, charger connectivity, energy consumption and usage patterns.

This provides greater visibility into how chargers are performing after installation.

For hospitality businesses operating across multiple locations, this becomes particularly important.

Take Verdant Leisure, for example. With EV charging infrastructure installed across 12 holiday parks, the business needs a solution that can be managed and supported beyond the initial installation.

Connekt delivered 20 chargers with 39 connectors across the group's locations, with ongoing network monitoring and driver support forming part of the wider service.

When guests are charging at different holiday parks, often outside normal business hours, having a dedicated team looking after the infrastructure helps reduce the burden on individual sites.

Of course, monitoring doesn't mean faults will never happen, and not every issue can be resolved remotely or immediately.

But it does mean there's an established process for identifying and investigating problems.

A reliable charging experience isn't only about the quality of the charger installed. It's also about how that charger is managed throughout its working life.

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Poor EV Charging Can Put Pressure on Your Hospitality Team

Think about what happens when a guest approaches reception because they can't start a charging session.

Your receptionist might be checking in another guest, answering a telephone call or dealing with a room enquiry.

Now they're also being asked to troubleshoot an unfamiliar piece of technology.

They may need to contact a supplier, search for instructions or try to establish whether the charger is actually working.

Multiply that across several charging-related enquiries and the operational impact becomes clearer.

For busy hospitality and leisure venues, staff time is valuable.

The objective should be to provide guests with an easy route to specialist support while allowing your team to focus on delivering hospitality.

This is particularly relevant for venues where charging takes place overnight, outside normal office hours or when fewer staff are onsite.

A charging problem at 10pm shouldn't depend on somebody being available in an installation company's office the following morning.

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The Cost of a Broken Charger Isn't Always Financial

When businesses assess EV charging performance, it's natural to focus on charging revenue, utilisation and operating costs.

But some of the consequences of poor reliability are harder to measure.

A guest might decide not to book again.

They might leave a review mentioning the charging experience.

They might tell another EV driver that charging at your venue was unreliable.

Or they might simply choose somewhere else next time.

These aren't guaranteed outcomes of every fault, but they're risks worth considering.

For hospitality and leisure businesses, where recommendations and repeat visits matter, the wider customer experience can be just as important as the revenue generated directly from charging.

This is why the cheapest installation quote doesn't necessarily represent the best long-term value.

A charger that looks attractive on paper but lacks dependable management and support may create additional costs in staff time, guest frustration and operational disruption.

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When Existing EV Charging Doesn't Meet Expectations

Not every EV charging project begins with a brand-new installation.

Sometimes businesses already have chargers in place but find that the infrastructure isn't meeting their needs.

That was the situation at Gomersal Park Hotel in West Yorkshire, where Connekt was brought in to replace an existing EV charging installation that had presented problems.

The project involved replacing the previous infrastructure with three dual 22kW GARO LS4 chargers, providing six charging connectors for hotel visitors.

It's a useful reminder that simply having EV chargers onsite doesn't necessarily mean a business has the right solution.

The quality of the installation, suitability of the hardware and ongoing management arrangements all contribute to how well charging works in practice.

For hospitality businesses reviewing existing infrastructure, the question shouldn't only be whether chargers are installed.

It should be whether those chargers are delivering the experience your guests expect.

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Reliability Becomes More Important as Guests Depend on Charging

As more drivers switch to electric vehicles, charging is becoming a more familiar consideration when choosing where to stay or spend time.

For some guests, it's a welcome additional facility.

For others, it's an important part of planning their visit.

At Rufflets St Andrews, guests had already been asking about EV charging before the hotel introduced the facility. Since installation, the chargers have seen regular use, demonstrating the importance of responding to changing guest expectations.

It's a good example of how EV charging can move from being an additional convenience to an increasingly valued part of the hospitality offering.

And as demand develops, businesses need to consider whether their infrastructure can continue meeting those expectations.

That includes monitoring usage, maintaining chargers and reviewing whether additional capacity may be needed.

For a guest relying on your chargers, the number of charge points advertised matters far less than whether one is available and working when they need it.

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Questions to Ask Before Choosing an EV Charging Partner

If you're considering EV charging for your hotel or leisure venue, reliability shouldn't be something you only think about after installation.

It's worth understanding how the infrastructure will be supported from day one.

Ask prospective providers:

• Who monitors the chargers after installation?
• How are faults identified and investigated?
• What happens when a driver needs help outside normal business hours?
• Who takes responsibility for resolving charging issues?
• What maintenance and software updates are included?
• Will we have access to charger performance and usage data?
• How will the infrastructure adapt if guest demand increases?

These questions might not feel as exciting as choosing hardware or planning an installation.

But they can have a much greater influence on the experience your guests receive over the years ahead.

For more guidance, read our blog on Choosing an EV Charging Partner You Can Trust.

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Protecting Guest Trust Starts Before the Charger Goes Live

No EV charging provider can guarantee that technology will never experience a problem.

But hospitality businesses can make better decisions about how those problems are managed.

Choosing infrastructure suited to your venue is important.

So is having clear driver instructions, straightforward payment options, proactive monitoring, ongoing maintenance and support when somebody needs it.

Because when a guest arrives at your venue, they shouldn't have to worry about who owns the charger, which company operates the software or who is responsible for fixing a fault.

They should be able to trust that the facility you've provided is being properly looked after.

A broken charger might be a technical problem. But how it's managed can determine whether it becomes a problem for your brand.

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Keep Your EV Charging Experience Working for Your Guests

At Connekt, we believe EV charging should be simple for both businesses and the drivers using it.

That's why our approach goes beyond installation, bringing together infrastructure planning, installation, ongoing network monitoring, maintenance and 24/7, 365 driver support.

Whether you're introducing EV charging for the first time or reviewing an existing installation, we can help you find a solution that works for your venue and the people visiting it.

Want reliable, fully managed EV charging without the headache? Speak to Connekt today.

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